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ft  DEPENSE  OF  VERBAL  INSPIRATION 


JAMES  H.  BROOKES. 


WORKS  BY  JAMES    H.  BROOKES. 

"Till   He  Come."    Paper  40:  cloth  75. 

Mystery   of   Suffering.    Paper  25 .  cloth  r.o. 

Chaff  and   Wheat.    Paper  10. 

Did  Jesus   Rise?    Paper :«);  cloth 00. 

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From  Death  unto  Life,  or  the  Sinner  Saved. 
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Stumbling  Blocks  Rennoved,  or  Words  of 
Comfort  for  Troubled  Souls.    Pai)er  10. 

The  Holy   Spirit.     Paper  15;  cloth 40. 

The  Way  Made  Plain.    Paper .50  cloth : $1.25. 

May  Christians  Dance?    Pai)er  25:  cloth  50. 

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Bible  Reading  "//  the  ScciukI  Ciiiiiinii  of  Chrisi. 
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Coming  and  Appearing  of  Our  Lord.    1". 

Life  Received  and  Nourished,    m. 

Outline  of  the  Book  of  Revelation.    5. 

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The  Truth.  Publisihed  Monthly.  Devoted  ti. 
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New  York;   FLEMING   H.  REVELL  COMPANY:  Chicago. 


CHAFF 


AND 


WHEAT. 


A  Defense  of  Verbal  Inspiration 


B  Y 


JAMES  H.  BROOKES. 


Fleming  H.  Revell  Company, 

NEW  VORK:  I  CHICAGO: 

30  UnioQ  Square  :  East.  I  148  &  150  Madison  Street. 
Publishers  of  Evangelical   Literature. 


J 


Copyright  18&1. 
By  FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY. 


CHAFF  AND   WHEAT. 


The  judgments  of  God  fell  upon  His 
people,  because  they  listened  approvingly 
to  teachers  Avho  did  not  speak  according  to 
His  word.  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts, 
Hearken  not  unto  the  words  of  the  prophets 
that  prophesy  unto  you;  they  make  you 
vain:  they  speak  a  vision  of  their  own 
heart,  and  not  out  of  the  mouth  of  the 
Lord."  It  was  this  that  provoked  His 
righteous  displeasure.  "  Behold,  a  whirl- 
wind of  the  Lord  is  gone  forth  in  fury, 
even  a  grievous  whirlwind:  it  shall  fall 
grievously  upon  the  head  of  the  wicked. 
The  anger  of  the  Lord    shall    not  return, 

until  He  have  executed,  and  till  He  have 
3 


CHAFF  AND    WHEAT. 


performed  the  thoughts  of  His  heart:  in  the 

LATTEE  DAYS  YE  SHALL  CONSIDER  IT  PER- 
FECTLY." 

Is  He  indifferent  to  the  testimony  of 
those  who  mislead  their  followers  by  their 
own  fancies?  "I  have  heard  what  the 
prophets  said,  that  prophesy  lies  in  my 
name,  saying,  I  have  dreamed,  I  have 
dreamed."  The  knowledge  of  the  divine 
will,  which  they  claimed  to  receive  in 
dreams,  may  have  been  imparted  to  others 
in  the  most  attractive  form.  Their  dis- 
courses may  have  been  adorned  with  all  the 
graces  of  oratory,  with  all  the  beauties  of 
poetry,  with  all  the  energy  of  reason,  with 
all  the  force  of  the  highest  criticism  and 
the  broadest  culture ;  but  still  they  had  no 
greater  authority  than  a  dream.  "  The 
prophet  that  hath  a  dream,  let  him  tell 
a  dream;  and  he  that  hath  my  word,  let 
him  speak  my  word  faithfully.  What  is 
the  chaff  to  the  wheat?  saith  the  Lord" 
Jer.  xxiii.  lG-28. 


CHAFF  AND  WHEAT. 


How  far  the  prophets  were  inspired,  who 
did  not  tell  a  dream,  but  spoke  the  word  of 
God,  and  how  far  we  are  bound  to  receive 
their  testimony,  can  be  easily  ascertained. 
"All  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of 
God,  and  is  proi&table  for  doctrine,  for  re- 
proof, for  correction,  for  instruction  in 
righteousness ;  that  the  man  of  God  may  be 
perfect,  thoroughly  furnished  unto  all  good 
works."  2  Tim.  iii.  16,  17.  Scripture  means 
writing,  and  the  word  here  employed,  graphe, 
is  never  used  of  any  writings  except  the 
Sacred  Scriptures.  A  writing  is  composed 
of  words,  and  therefore  the  apostle  declares 
that  all  the  words  of  Scripture  are  given  by 
inspiration  of  God,  and  are  profitable  for 
teaching. 

It  is  true  that  the  Kevised  Version  trans- 
lates it,  "Every  scripture  inspired  of  God 
is  also  profitable  for  teaching;"  and  false 
prophets  have  taken  advantage  of  this  ren- 
dering, as  friends  of  the  Bible  clearly  fore- 
saw, and  as  illustrated  in  the  recent  defence 


6  CHAFF  AND    WHEAT. 

of  Professor  Briggs  before  his  Presbytery, 
to  insinuate  that  some  Scripture  is  not  in- 
spired of  God.  But  the  learned  chairman 
of  the  Eevision  Committee,  defending  the 
new  translation,  says,  "It  enunciates  the 
vital  truth  that  every  separate  portion  of 
the  living  book  is  inspired,  and  forms  a 
living  portion  of  a  living  organic  whole ; " 
and  Prof.  Gaussen  declared  that  "  this  last 
construction  would  even  give  more  force 
than  the  first  to  the  apostle's  declaration." 

It  may  be  well,  however,  to  add  that 
many  eminent  scholars  do  not  agree  with 
the  reading  of  the  Revised  Version.  The 
American  Bible  Union  translates  it,  "  All 
Scripture  is  inspired  by  God,  and  is  profit- 
able for  teaching."  McKnight  translates 
it,  "  The  whole  Scripture  is  divinely  in- 
spired, and  is  profitable  for  teaching."  Dr. 
Young,  author  of  the  Analytical  Concord- 
ance of  the  Bible,  translates  it,  "Every 
wi'iting  is  God-breathed,  and  profitable  for 
teaching."     Rotherham  translates  it:   "Ev- 


CHAFF  AND  WHEAT. 


ERY  Scripture  is  God-breathed,  and  profit- 
able unto  instruction."  The  Emphatic 
Diaglott  translates  it,  "  All  Scripture,  div- 
inely inspired,  is  indeed  profitable  for 
teaching."  J.  N.  Darby  translates  it,  "Ev- 
ery Scripture  is  divinely  inspired,  and 
profitable  for  teaching."  Even  the  Unita- 
rian Version  by  Dr.  Noyes,  Professor  in 
Harvard  University,  translates  it,  "  All 
Scripture  is  inspired  by  God,  and  is  profit- 
able for  teaching." 

The  word  is,  being  in  italics,  does  not  of 
course  belong  to  the  original,  and  the  ques- 
tion arises,  where  shall  it  be  placed?  Shall 
we  read  with  the  Authorized  Version,  "  All 
Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God, 
and  is  profitable,"  or  wdth  the  Revised, 
"Every  Scripture  inspired  of  God  is  also 
profitable?"  Against  the  latter  there  are 
four  insuperable  objections.  First,  it  sep- 
arates between  two  adjectives  that  are  im- 
mediately connected  in  the  Greek  by  the 
conjunction  and,   so   closely  connected  in- 


8  CHAFF  AND   WHEAT. 

deed  that  if  one  is  a  predicate,  the  other  is 
necessarily  a  predicate  also.  Thcopnusios 
kai  ophelimos,  God-inspired  and  profitable — 
by  what  rule  of  grammar  can  anyone  insert 
is  between  these  adjectives? 

Second,  the  apostle  never  could  have 
written  such  a  useless  truism  as  to  assert 
that  "  every  Scripture  inspired  of  God  is 
also  profitable."  The  mind  instantly  and 
instinctively  recognizes  that,  and  does  not 
need  a  divine  revelation  to  teach  a  self- 
evident  fact.  Who  would  think  of  saying 
that  "  every  loaf  of  pure  bread  is  also  good 
for  food?" 

Third,  the  translators  of  the  Revised 
Version  flatly  contradict  themselves.  Here 
we  have  the  phrase,  x^cisa  graphe  thcopnusios 
kai  ophelimos,  which  they  render,  "  Every 
Scripture  inspired  of  God  is  also  profitable." 
But  in  another  passage,  where  the  same 
verb  is  left  out,  we  have  pania  gumna  kai 
teirakeelismena,  which  the  Authorized  Ver- 
sion renders,    "  all  things    are   naked    and 


CHAFF  AND  WHEAT.  9 

opened,"  and  tlie  Kevised  renders  in  the 
same  way;  "all  things  are  naked  and  laid 
open."  If  the  translators  of  the  latter  had 
been  consistent,  they  would  have  rendered 
it,  "  all  things  naked  are  also  laid  open." 

Fourth,  they  cannot  plead  the  necessity 
of  translating  pasa  graphe  "every  Scrip- 
ture," because  it  is  in  the  singular  number, 
for  they  translate  pas  oikos,  which  is  also 
singular,  "  all  the  house,"  Acts  ii.  36.  We 
may  assume,  therefore,  that  the  old  render- 
ing is  the  best,  "  All  Scripture  is  given  by 
inspiration  of  God;"  and  rejoice  in  the  as- 
surance that  the  writing  and  very  words  were 
under  the  direction  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

But  we  are  by  no  means  left  to  the  testi- 
mony of  one  witness  to  prove  the  verbal 
inspiration  of  the  original  Scriptures.  It  is 
affirmed  more  than  two  thousand  times,  and 
as  Robert  Haldane  truly  says,  "  Nothing 
can  be  more  clearly,  more  expressly,  or  more 
precisely  taught  in  the  Word  of  God.  And 
while  other  important  doctrines  may  be  met 


10  CHAFF  AND    WHEAT. 

with  passages  of  seeming  opposition,  there 
is  not  in  the  language  of  the  Scriptures  one 
expression  that  even  appears  to  contradict 
their  plenary  and  verbal  inspiration." 

"  For  the  prophecy  came  not  in  old  time 
[margin,  at  any  time]  by  the  will  of  man: 
but  holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were 
moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost."  2  Pet.  i.  21. 
The  Revised  renders  this,  "No  prophecy 
ever  came  by  the  will  of  man:  but  men 
spake  from  God,  being  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost."  If  the  will  of  man  was  left  to 
select  the  language  in  which  revelation  is 
clothed,  the  evidence  of  the  apostle  is  not 
true,  for  he  says,  "no  prophecy  ever  came 
by  the  will  of  man,"  and  he  also  declares 
that  holy  men  of  God  spake,  not  thought, 
but  spake,  employed  words,  "  had  utterance 
from  God,"  as  Alford  renders  it,  being 
moved,  or  borne  along,  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Turning  then  to  the  Old  Testament,  and 
accepting  its  threefold  division,  recognized 
by  our  Lord  Himself,  into  the  law  of  Moses, 


CHAFF  AND  WHEAT.  H 

the  Psalms,  and  the  Prophets,  we  ask  what 
do  the  men  whom  God  used  to  make  known 
His  truth  say  of  their  inspiration?  Moses 
tells  us  that  Jehovah  sent  him  with  a 
message  to  Pharaoh  and  to  the  enslaved 
Israelites,  and  that  he  recoiled  from  the 
dangerous  and  disagreeable  service,  ex- 
claiming, "  O  my  Lord,  I  am  not  eloquent, 
neither  heretofore,  nor  since  thou  hast 
spoken  unto  thy  servant:  but  I  am  slow  of 
speech,  and  of  a  slow  tongue.  And  the 
Lord  said  unto  him,  Who  hath  made  man's 
mouth?"  God  did  not  ask,  who  hath  made 
man's  mind,  but  man's  mouth?  "Now 
therefore  go,  and  I  will  be  with  thy  mouth, 
and  teach  thee  what  thou  phalt  say."  Ex. 
iv.  10-12. 

The  divine  promise  was  not,  I  will  be 
with  thy  tnind,  and  teach  thee  what  thou 
shalt  think,  but,  I  will  be  with  thy  mouth 
and  teach  thee  what  thou  shalt  say.  It  does 
not  concern  us  in  the  least  to  know  what 
Moses  thought,  but  it  concerns  us  for  eter- 


12  CHAFF  AND  WHEAT. 

nity  to  know  what  Moses  said ;  and  five  hun- 
dred and  sixty  times  in  the  Pentateuch  we 
are  told  that  "  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses," 
"  the  Lord  spake  unto  Moses,  saying." 
Hence  the  solemn  admonition  just  before 
the  people  crossed  the  Jordan,  "  Ye  shall 
not  add  unto  the  word  which  I  command 
you,  neither  shall  ye  diminish  ought  from 
it."  Deut.  iv,  2.  It  was  a  perfect  word,  and 
hence  unchangeable,  because  it  was  the 
word  of  God.  Seven  times  does  Moses  tell 
us  that  "the  tables  were  the  work  of  God, 
and  the  writing  was  the  writing  of  God, 
graven  upon  the  tables;"  and  if  this  is  not 
true,  the  witness  is  a  common  liar,  worthy 
only  of  contempt.  If  it  is  true,  God  em- 
ployed, and  recorded  and  uttered  human 
words  to  give  expression  to  His  commands. 
Passing  to  the  second  division  of  the  Old 
Testament,  known  as  the  Psalms,  we  find 
David  the  prominent  medium  for  communi- 
cating the  divine  will,  as  Moses  was  in  the 
first   division.     "  Now    these    be    the    last 


CHAFF  AND  WHEAT.  13 

words  of  David."  If  ever  man  is  honest,  it 
is  wiiile  speaking  bis  last  words,  and  they 
are  often  properly  regarded  as  important. 
Listening  then  to  the  last  words  of  "  the 
sweet  psalmist  of  Israel,"  we  hear  him  say- 
ing, ''The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  spake  by  me, 
and  His  word  was  in  my  tongue."  2  Sam. 
xxiii,  2.  He  does  not  testify  that  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  thought  by  him,  but 
spake  by  him,  nor  does  he  declare  that  the 
ideas  of  the  Spirit  were  in  his  mind,  but 
His  word  was  in  his  tongue,  so  that  in  the 
marvelous  writings,  which  have  stirred  the 
hearts  of  God's  people  for  thirty  centuries, 
and  of  which,  Mr.  Gladstone  says,  "  All  the 
wonders  of  the  Greek  civilization  heaped 
together  are  less  wonderful  than  is  the  sin- 
gle book  of  Psalms,"  he  was  the  mouth-piece 
of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

No  wonder  he  everywhere  exalts  the  word 
as  perfect,  as  making  wise  the  simple,  as 
rejoicing  the  heart,  as  enlightening  the 
eyes,  as  enduring  forever,  as  true  and  right- 


14  CHAFF  AND   WHEAT 

eons  altogether,  as  more  to  be  desired  than 
much  fine  gold,  sweeter  also  than  honey  and 
the  honeycomb.  Ps.  xix.  In  the  longest 
Psalm  of  the  collection,  containing  176 
verses,  the  Scriptures  under  their  seven 
leading  titles  of  the  Word,  the  Law,  the 
Testimonies,  the  Statutes,  the  Command- 
ments, the  Judgments  and  the  Precepts  of 
God,  are  celebrated  in  every  verse  but  one," 
and  there  Christ  is  mentioned  as  the  surety 
of  the  believer.  Well  might  John  Kuskin 
say,  "  The  119th  Psalm  has  now  become  of 
all,  the  most  precious  to  me  in  its  overflow- 
ing and  glorious  passion  of  love  for  the 
Word  of  God." 

"  Thy  word  is  true  from  the  beginning," 
exclaims  the  happy  Psalmist,  or  "true  from 
the  first  word,"  as  it  is  rendered  by  Dr.  Adam 
Clarke.  The  Statement  is  often  made  in 
these  days  by  learned  professors,  that  the 
Bible  contains  "many  errors  and  mistakes ;" 
but  it  is  shamefully  false.  In  answer  to 
the  blasphemous  and  infidel  assertion  David 


CHAFF  AND    WHEAT.  15 

shouts  back  from  his  dying  bed,  "  The  Spirit 
of  the  Lord  spake  by  me,  and  His  word  was 
in  my  tongue;"  "Thy  word  is  true  from  the 
first  word;"  and  then  looking  up  into  the 
face  of  God,  he  declares,  "  Thou  hast  mag- 
nified Thy  word  above  all  Thy  name,"  Ps. 
cxxxviii,  2;  or  above  every  other  mani- 
festation of  Thyself  in  nature,  reason  and 
the  church.  This  second  division  of  the 
Old  Testament  closes  with  the  announce- 
ment and  admonition,  "  Every  word  of  God 
is  pure.  He  is  a  shield  unto  them  that  put 
their  trust  in  Him.  Add  thou  not  unto  His 
words,  lest  He  reprove  thee,  and  thou  be 
found  a  liar."  Prov.  xxx,  5,  6. 

The  third  division  brings  us  to  the 
prophets,  of  whom  Jeremiah  may  be  taken 
as  a  representative.  When  he  was  informed 
that  he  was  ordained  a  prophet  unto  the 
nations,  "Then  said  I,  Ah!  Lord  God!  be- 
hold, I  cannot  speak ;  for  I  am  a  child.  But 
the  Lord  said  unto  me.  Say  not,  I  am  a 
child:  for  thou  shalt  go  to  all  that    I    shall 


16  CHAFF  AND   WHEAT- 

send  thee,  and  whatsoever  I  command  thee 
thou  shalt  speak."  But  how  was  he  to 
receive  what  God  commanded  him  to  speak  ? 
"  Then  the  Lord  put  forth  His  hand  and 
touched  my  mouth.  And  the  Lord  said 
unto  me,  Behold  I  have  put  My  words  in 
thy  mouth."Jer.  i,  6-9.  Mark,  God  did  not 
put  His  concept  into  the  prophet's  mind,  nor 
somewhere  behind  the  Scriptures  like  a  bat 
darting  about  in  the  dark,  but  He  put  His 
word  into  Jeremiah's  mouth,  and  more  than 
one  hundred  and  eighty  times  he  came 
before  the  people,  thundering  in  their  ears, 
"  Thus  saith  the  Lord." 

So  it  is  with  all  of  the  prophets  without 
exception.  Every  one  of  them  appears  with 
the  announcement  that  "  the  word  of  the 
Lord"  came  to  him,  and  that  it  was  the 
word  of  the  Lord,  not  his  own  word  which  he 
delivered  in  admonition,  entreaty  or  instruc- 
tion. But  "  they  made  their  hearts  as  an 
adamant  stone,  lest  they  should  hear  the 
law,  and  the  words  which  the  Lord  of  Hosts 


CHAFF  AND   WHEAT.  17 


had  sent  by  His  Spirit  by  the  hand  of  the 
former  prophets ;  therefore  came  there  great 
wrath  from  the  Lord  of  Hosts."  Zech.  vii. 
12.  More  than  fifteen  hundred  times  in  the 
prophetical  parts  of  the  Old  Testament  do 
we  read,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  "  or  its 
equivalent,  and  twenty-four  times  in  the 
four  short  chapters  of  Malachi  we  hear 
the  searching  and  significant  refrain,  "Thus 
saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts." 

Must  all  of  this  go  for  nothing  at  the  de- 
mand of  the  higher  critics,  who  are  trying 
to  substitute  their  idle  dreams  and  empty 
chaff  for  the  living  word  of  the  living  God  ? 
Are  we  to  believe  the  writers  of  the  Bible,  or 
the  men  who  are  seeking  to  pick  the  Bible 
to   pieces   by  a   process    of    criticism    that 
would  destroy  the  authenticity  and  genuine- 
ness of  any  of  their  own  writings,  or  of  any 
book  that  has  ever  been  published?     If  any 
one  wishes  to  see  a  specimen  of  the  reason- 
ing adopted  by  these  higher  critics,  let  him 
read  Archbishop  Whately's  book,  "  Historic 


18  CHAFF  AND   WHEAT. 

Doubts,"  in  which  he  proves  that  Napoleon 
never  lived.  They  come  before  us  with  the 
fanciful  discovery  of  their  German  masters, 
who  have  dreamed  of  Elohistic  and  Jehov- 
istic  documents,  and  redactors  and  sub- 
redactors,  until  one  becomes  amazed  at  their 
audacity,  and  indignant  at  their  irreverence, 
and  longs  to  turn  upon  them  with  the  shout, 
*'Yea,  let  God  be  true,  but  every  man  a 
liar."  Kom.  iii.  4. 

Precisely  the  same  truth  of  inspired  words 
is  brought  out  in  the  New  Testament,  as 
shown  by  the  use  which  our  Lord  made  of 
the  Scriptures.  Three  times  in  His  temp- 
tation He  defended  Himself  against  the 
assaults  of  the  devil,  by  saying  to  him,  "  It 
is  written,"  quoting  from  the  book  of 
Deuteronomy,  which  higher  criticism  pro- 
nounces to  be  a  forgery  and  a  fraud.  It  is 
our  Lord  who  declared,  "Till  heaven  and 
earth  pass,  one  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no 
wise  pass  fi'om  the  law,  till  all  be  fulfilled. 
Matt.  V.  18 ;  or  not  the  least  Hebrew  letter, 


CHAFF  AND  WHEAT.  19 

not  the  smallest  turn  or  twist  of  a  letter  can 
be  set  aside.  It  is  onr  Lord  who  declared 
that  "  the  Scripture  cannot  be  broken,"  Jno. 
X,  35,  the  writing  itself  remaining  immut- 
able as  Jehovah's  throne.  He  would  not 
summon  angels  to  His  help  in  Gethsemane, 
for  "  how  then  shalt  the  Scriptiires  be  ful- 
filled?" Matt.  xxvi.  54.  He  would  not 
consent  to  bow  His  head  in  death  on  Cal- 
vary's cross,  until  He  told  of  His  thirst, 
"  that  the  Scripture  might  be  fulfilled." 
Jno.  xix,  28. 

On  three  different  occasions  He  gave  ex- 
plicit directions  to  His  apostles,  that  when 
brought  before  kings  and  councils  as  wit- 
nesses for  His  truth,  they  were  not  to  pre- 
meditate, not  to  prepare  their  defense,  not  to 
give  themselves  the  slightest  concern,"  for  it 
is  not  ye  that  speak,  but  the  Spirit  of  your 
Father  which  speaketh  in  you,"  Matt. 
X.  20;  "It  is  not  ye  that  speak,  but  the 
Holy  Ghost,"  Mark  xiii.  11;  "The  Holy 
Ghost  shall  teach  you  in  the  same  hour  what 


20  (JUAFF  AND  WHEAT. 

ye  ought  to  say."  Lu.  xiL  12.  Accordinj^ly, 
on  the  Day  of  PentecoHt  they  were  all  filled 
with  the  Holy  Gho»t,  and  b*;gan  t/j  Hi^jak 
with  other  t^^ngnes,  a»  the  Spirit  gave  them 
utterance,"  Acts  ii.  4,  proclaiming  in  more 
than  a  dozen  dialerjts,  with  which  th^;y  ha^l 
been  trjtally  unac<^iuainted  up  to  that  moment, 
the  wonderful  works  of  G^xJ. 

"Which  things  alsr^  we  speak,"  wrote 
Paul,  "  not  in  the  word»  which  man's  wis^lom 
teacheth,  but  which  the  Hr>ly  Ohfjst  imu'h- 
eth,"  I  O^r.  il  13,  claiming  that  the  vfnry 
wordn  he  employerl  were  commnmcMifA  t^> 
him  by  the  Holy  Hpirit  Hence  th^;  man 
who  called  him»elf  the  least  of  the  ajK^tles, 
I  Cor.  XV.  9,  and  six  or  sevfm  years  later, 
less  than  the  least  of  all  saints,  Eph.  iii.  8, 
and  two  or  three  years  lat^;r  still,  the  chief 
of  sinners,  1  Tim.  i.  15,  c^^uld  also  say  with 
authr/rity,  "  If  any  man  think  hims*;lf  ii>  be 
a  prophet,  r/r  spiritual,  l<;t  him  a^;knfrwlrj<lge 
that  the  things  that  I  write  nnt*^*  you  are  the 
commandments  r/f  the  I>xrd,"  1  O/r.  xiv.  37; 


CHAFF  AAD   WHEAT,  Jl 

vsnd  •  ho  thorefore  tliat  dospisoth.  de;?piseth 
not  in.'Ui.  but  l^>d.  who  hath  also  given  unto 
as  His  Holy  Spirit"  I  The^s,  iv.  S. 

Thou  Potor  writos  oouooiuiuij  tho  rodomp- 
tiou  to  bo  proaohod  to  tho  worUl;  "Of  which 
salvation  tho  pivphots  have  iuquii-e^l  and 
soaivhod  diligontly.  who  pivphesied  of  the 
i^raoo  that  should  ovmuo  unto  you:  soarchiuij 
what,  or  what  luanuor  ot*  tiiuo  the  Spirit  of 
(.^hrist  which  was  in  thorn  did  signify,  when 
Ho  {tho  Spirit]  testitiod  beforehand  the 
sutforings  of  Christy  and  the  glory  that  should 
follow."  I  Pet  i.  10.  11.  Here  the  prophets 
aro  represented  as  o.arnestly  stiulying  the 
words  thoy  themselves  had  written,  like 
auiauuonsos  ^HU'iug  over  a  dis^\>ui*se  diotatovi 
\o  thou\  by  a  nu^^ter  mind,  in  oi\ler  to  dis- 
cover its  moaning.  This  is  followt\l  by  the 
oxluntation.  "  l>o  mindful  of  tho  words 
wliiv'h  wore  spoken  before  by  tho  lu^ly 
pn^photii,  and  of  the  conuuanduient  of  us. 
tho  ajxvstles  of  the  ho\\\  and  Saviour,"  11 
IVt  iii.  '2;  placitig  tho  conunandmont  of  the 


22  CHAFF  AND   WHEAT. 

apostles  on  the  same  high  plane  of  authority 
with  the  words  of  the  prophets,  who  "  spake 
as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost." 

John  closes  the  uniform  testimony  of  the 
Bible  with  the  announcement,  "  We  are  of 
God:  he  that  knoweth  God,  heareth  us:  he 
that  is  not  of  God,  heareth  not  us.  Hereby 
know  we  the  spirit  of  truth,  and  the  spirit 
of  error,"  I  Jno.  iv,  6;  and  he  completes 
the  canon  of  Scripture  with  the  solemn  ad- 
monition, "I  testify  unto  every  man  that 
heareth  the  words  of  the  prophecy  of  this 
book,  if  any  man  shall  add  unto  these  things, 
God  shall  add  unto  him  the  plagues  that  are 
written  in  this  book ;  and  if  any  man  shall 
take  away  from  the  words  of  the  book  of 
this  prophecy,  God  shall  take  away  his  part 
out  of  the  book  of  life,  and  out  of  the  holy 
city,  and  from  the  things  which  are  written 
in  this  book."  Rev.  xxii  18,  19.  Thus  from 
beginning  to  end  does  the  Lord  guard  His 
word  from  the  rash  intrusion  of  false  prophets 
with  their  dreams  and  chaff. 


CHAFF  AND   WHEAT.  23 

The  sacred  writers  without  even  one  ex- 
ception, declare  that  they  spoke  and  wrote 
the  Avords  God  gave  them  to  deliver,  con- 
firming the  truth  of  the  statement  made  by 
Dr.  Lindsay  in  his  fine  Commentary  on 
Hebrews,  "  The  words  of  the  prophet  are 
God's  words;  the  words  of  Christ  are  God's 
words,  and  the  words  of  the  men  sent  forth 
by  Christ  are  God's  words."  It  is  foolish, 
therefore,  to  talk  about  a  theory  of  inspira- 
tion. One  may  as  well  talk  about  a  theory 
of  the  incarnation  or  the  resurrection  of  our 
Lord.  It  is  not  a  theory  but  a  fact  that  all 
the  writings  or  words  of  Scripture  are  given 
by  inspiration  of  God ;  and  Dean  Burgon, 
one  of  the  ablest  scholars  of  Great  Britain, 
was  precisely  correct  when  he  said,  "  The 
Bible  is  none  other  than  the  voice  of  Him 
that  sitteth  on  the  throne.  Every  book  of 
it,  every  chapter  of  it,  every  verse  of  it, 
every  word  of  it,  every  syllable  of  it,  every 
letter  of  it,  is  the  direct  utterance  of  the 
Most  High." 


24  CHAFF  AND   WHEAT. 

The  grotesque  dream  that  the  thoughts 
are  inspired,  but  not  the  words,  the  poor 
chaff  that  inspiration  is  Jound  in  the  concept, 
but  not  in  the  language,  he  dismisses  with 
merited  contempt.  "  You  cannot  dissect 
Inspiration  into  substance  and  form.  As 
for  thoughts  being  inspired,  apart  from  the 
words  which  give  them  expression,  you 
might  as  well  talk  of  a  tune  without  notes, 
or  a  sum  without  figures.  No  such  dream 
can  abide  the  daylight  for  a  moment.  No 
such  theory  of  inspiration  is  even  intelli- 
gible. It  is  as  illogical  as  it  is  worthless, 
and  cannot  be  too  sternly  put  down."  Prof. 
Henry  B.  Smith  says,  "  This  inspiration  is 
plenary  in  the  sense  of  extending  to  all  the 
parts,  and  of  extending  to  the  words  also." 
Prof.  Sliedd  says,  "  Scripture  itself  asserts 
verbal  inspiration."  Dr.  Charles  Hodge 
says,  "  The  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures 
extends  to  the  words."  Prof.  A.  A.  Hodge 
and  Prof.  B.  B.  AYarfield  say,  "The  line  of 
inspired  or    not   inspired,    of   infallible    or 


CHAFF  AND   WHEAT.  25 

fallible,  can  never  rationally  be  drawn  be- 
tween the  thoughts  and  the  words  of 
Scripture."  Bengel  says,  "Even  the  words 
of  Scripture  are  inspired  by  God,"  and 
''The  Spirit  does  not  speak  without  words." 
Bishop  Ryle,  of  Liverpool,  says,  "  I  believe 
that  the  inspired  writers  were  infallibly 
guided  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  both  in  their 
selection  of  matter  and  choice  of  words." 
Dr.  Anderson,  member  of  the  Royal  College 
of  Surgeons,  London,  and  a  profound  Bible 
student,  says,  "Not  only  is  this  divine 
inspiration  plenary,  but  it  is  verbal  also." 
Mr.  Spurgeon  and  twenty-nine  others,  in- 
cluding some  of  the  ablest  preachers  and 
scholars  of  England,  say  in  a  recent  man- 
ifesto, "We — are  constrained  to  avow  our 
firmest  belief  in  the  verbal  inspiration  of 
all  Holy  Scripture  as  originally  given." 

Dr.  Eobert  J.  Breckinridge,  in  his  mas- 
terly defence  of  the  Bible  before  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia,  speaks  of  the  hundreds 
of  years  required  for  its  completion,  of  the 


26  CHAFF  AND   WHEAT. 

strangely  dijfferent  writers  who  were  em- 
ployed in  its  construction,  of  the  vast  va- 
riety of  topics  upon  which  they  dwelt,  and 
then  asserts  without  fear  of  contradiction, 
"  Yet  all  these  men,  through  all  these  cen- 
turies, treating  of  all  these  subjects,  so 
wrote,  that  although  they  have  been  sub- 
jected to  the  fiercest  scrutiny  during  more 
than  seventeen  centuries  since  the  last  of 
them  died,  it  has  been  impossible  to  detect 
the  smallest  solecism  in  the  entire  produc- 
tions of  all  of  them  put  together,  or  the 
smallest  discrepancy  of  fact,  of  principle,  or 
even  of  opinion  of  any  one  of  them  from  any 
other  throughout  their  voluminous  writings." 
The  Bible  everywhere  claims  that  it  is  the 
truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth.  "  Thy 
law  is  the  truth,"  says  the  Psalmist  in  the 
Old  Testament,  Ps.  cxix,  142.  "  Thy  word 
is  truth,"  says  the  Lord  Jesus  in  the  New 
Testament,  Jno.  xvii,  17;  and  there  is  not  a 
line  in  conflict  with  these  testimonies  from 
Genesis  to   Revelation.     Even  Archdeacon 


CHAFF  AND   WHEAT.  27 

Farrar,  although  he  rejects  the  great  fact  of 
verbal  inspiration,  does  not  hesitate  to  say 
in  italicised  words,  of  the  writers  of  the 
Bible,  "  That  they  did  so  err  I  am  not  so 
irreverent  as  to  assert,  nor  has  ihe  widest 
learning  and  acidest  ingenuity  of  skepticism 
ever  pointed  to  one  complete  and  demon- 
strable error  of  fact  or  doctrine  in  the  Old 
or  New  Testament.^' 

In  sad  contrast  with  the  evidence  of  this 
important  witness  comes  the  testimony  of 
Prof.  Briggs  in  his  famous  Inaugural  Ad- 
dress; "  Itis  not  a  pleasant  task  to  point  out 
errors  in  the  sacred  Scriptures.  Nevertheless, 
historical  criticism  finds  them.  .  .  .  Conser- 
vative men  should  hesitate  before  they  force 
critics  in  self-defense  to  make  a  catalogue 
of  errors  in  the  Bible."  Again  he  says  in 
his  Biblical  Study,  "Higher  criticism 
comes  into  conflict  with  the  authority  of 
Scripture,  when  it  finds  that  its  statements 
are  not  authoritative  and  its  revelations  are 
not  credible."  Every  infidel  in  the  world  can    ! 


28  CHAFF  AND   WHEAT. 


I    readily  believe  the  Bible  on  these  terms,  con- 
ceding to  him  the  right  to  discover  errors  and 
to  reject  statements  which  in  his  judgment 
are  not  authoritative,  and  revelations  which 
he  is  pleased  to  regard  as  not  credible.     It 
is  perfectly  obvious  that  the  position  taken 
by  the  Professor  leaves  us  no  Bible  at  all; 
and  his  threat   to  publish    a    catalogue  of 
its  errors  would  end  as  a  thousand  similar 
attempts  have  ended,   in  the  merest  chaff. 
Nothing  could  please  lovers    of  the  Word 
more  than  to  have  him   publish  his  cata- 
logue of  errors,  for  they  would  soon  show 
that  he  has  been  boastfully  telling  a  dream 
of  his  own  vain  imagination. 
/      He  is  followed  by  his  fellow-laborer,  Prof. 
/  Harper,  in  the  effort  to  destroy  faith  in  the 
I  word  of  God,  for  the  latter  says,  "  It  seems 
'  a  hard   thing   to   accept — how    a    man    can 
/  admit  the  existence  of  historical   and   sci- 
/-entific  errors  in  the  Bible  and  still  hold  to 
/  the    Scriptures    as    the    infallible,    inspired 
\  word  of  God  on  all   matters    of    faith  and 


CHAFF  AND   WHEAT.  29 

practice.  The  errors  are  there,  and  those 
who  see  them  may  also  accept  the  Bible  as 
divine."  Yes,  it  is  indeed  a  hard  thing  to 
accept,  so  hard  that  it  cannot  be  done,  how 
a  man  may  admit  that  there  are  errors  in 
a  book,  and  at  the  same  time  hold  that  the 
book  is  infallible,  inspired  and  divine.  No  / 
being  in  the  universe  can  make  these  propo- 
sitions harmonize.  It  might  as  well  be  said 
that  black  is  white,  or  a  lie  is  the  truth,  or 
the  devil  is  an  angel  of  light. 

The  Professor  published  an  elaborate 
article,  borrowed  wholly  from  Prof.  Robert- 
son Smith,  who  borrowed  wholly  from  the 
German  Kuenen  and  Wellhausen,  seeking 
to  prove  that  the  Elohistic  and  Jehovistic 
accounts  of  the  deluge  are  contradictory. 
An  aged  minister  of  the  gospel  published  a 
reply  that  smashed  his  argument  to  pieces, 
and  made  it  "like  the  chaff  of  the  summer 
threshing  floors."  The  Professor  did  not 
deem  it  wise  to  notice  the  overwhelming: 
demonstration    of  his    own    folly,  but    con- 


30  CHAFF  AND   WHEAT. 

tented  himself  with  a  declaration  of  his  love 
for  the  Bible.  To  this  the  old  man  an- 
swered, "  The  most  unsatisfactory  point  of 
all  your  letter  is  where  you  say,  '  I  do  not 
in  my  own  mind  in  the  slightest  respect 
diminish  the  claims  of  the  Old  Testament 
upon  our  esteem  and  affection';  and  your 
co-laborers  Prof.  Briggs,  etc.,  are  constantly 
explaining  that  all  Bible  blunders  and  for- 
geries alleged  '  do  not  impair  its  inspiration !' 
This  may  be  so  in  your  'own  mind'  as  you 
say;  but  I  can  only  believe  it  at  the  ex- 
pense of  undervaluing  the  good  sense  of 
such  a  mind.''' 

Just  so.  These  gentlemen  would  try  and 
persuade  us  that  the  Pentateuch  is  made  up 
of  conflicting  and  irreconcilable  documents, 
that  Deuteronomy  and  Leviticus  are  gross 
^  forgeries,  not  written  for  a  thousand  years 
after  Moses,  although  everywhere  bearing 
the  name  of  Moses,  and  yet  that  the  books 
are  infallible,  divine  and  inspired.  It  is 
stated  as  a  fact  that  an  American  informed 


CHAFF  AND   WHEAT.  31 

Wellliausen  of  the  position  taken  by  the 
American  professors,  who  look  to  him  as 
their  teacher,  and  that  the  German  infidel, 
after  a  moment  of  silence,  said,  "I  have,- 
undoubtedly  proved  the  books  to  be  forger- ' 
ies,  but  it  never  occurred  to  me  to  make  God 
Almighty  a  party  to  the  fraud."  The  only 
possible  way  to  admit  the  sincerity  of  the 
professors  in  their  boasted  admiration  of  the 
Bible  is  to  deny  them  the  possession  of 
common  sense. 

Even  they  will  confess  that  God  could 
have  kept  the  writers  of  the  Scriptures  from 
error;  that  He  did  not  is  inconceivable.  If 
historical  criticism,  or  higher  criticism,  or 
lower  criticism,  or  the  devil's  criticism,  can 
detect  one  real  error  in  the  original  manu- 
scripts of  the  Bible,  it  is  obvious  to  every 
reflecting  mind  that  we  have  no  Bible  left, 
and  no  Christ,  who  put  the  seal  of  his  sanc- 
tion upon  the  least  letter  of  it,  and  upon 
what  are  called  its  unhistorical  and  unscien- 
tific narratives,  and  certified  to  its  inerrant 


32  GHAFF  AND   WHEAT. 

accuracy  in  the  statement,  "  Scripture  cannot 
be  broken,''  and  "  Tliy  word  is  truth."  If 
there  are  errors,  who  is  competent  to  point 
them  out  ?  Who  will  separate  the  chaff  from 
the  wheat?  Who  will  tell  us  what  to  be- 
lieve? Alas!  the  professors,  just  men- 
tioned, have  left  their  followers  tossing  upon 
the  dark  sea  of  time  without  chart  or  com- 
pass ;  and  there  is  not  a  church  of  any  size 
in  the  country  that  has  not  already  felt  the 
frightful  evils  of  their  false  teaching. 

Only  remember  what  the  word  of  God 
does  for  us,  and  then  think  of  the  daring  pre- 
sumption of  the  man  who  tells  the  people  that 
it  contains  numerous  "  errors  and  mistakes." 

1.  By  it  we  are  begotten.  "  Of  His  own 
will  begat  He  us  with  the  word  of  truth, 
that  we  should  be  a  kind  of  first  fruits  of 
His  creatures."     Jas.  i.  18. 

2.  By  it  we  are  born  again.  "  Being  born 
again,  not  of  corruptible  seed,  but  of  incor- 
ruptible, by  the  word  of  God.  which  liveth 
and  abideth  forever,"     I  Pet.  i.  23. 


CHAFF  AND   WHEAT.  33 

3.  By  it  we  grow.  "  As  new  born  babes, 
desire  the  sincere  milk  of  the  word,  that  ye 
may  groAv  thereby."     I  Pet.  ii.  2. 

4.  By  it  our  souls  are  saved.  "  Receive 
with  meekness  the  engrafted  word,  which  is 
able  to  save  your  souls."     Jas.  i.  2i. 

5.  By  it  we  are  made  wise  unto  salvation. 
"From  a  child  tholi  hast  known  the  holy 
Scriptures,  which  are  able  to  make  thee  wise 
unto  salvation."     II  Tim.  iii.  15. 

6.  By  it  we  are  cleansed.  "  Already  ye 
are  clean  because  of  the  word  which  I  have 
spoken  unto  you."     Jno.  xv.  3,  R.  V. 

7.  By  it  we  are  sanctified.  "  Sanctify 
them  through  thy  truth;  thy  word  is  truth." 
Jno.  xvii.   17. 

8.  By  it  we  are  built  up.  "  And  now,  breth- 
ren, I  commend  you  to  God,  and  to  the  word 
of  His  grace,  which  is  able  to  build  you  up, 
and  to  give  you  an  inheritance  among  all 
them  which  are  sanctified."     Acts  xx.  32. 

9  By  it  we  are  washed.  "  Christ  also 
loved  the  church,  and  gave  Himself  for  her. 


34  CHAFF  AND   WHEAT. 

that  He  might  sanctify  and  cleanse  her  with 
the  washing  of  water  by  the  word."  Eph. 
V.  25,  26. 

10.  By  it  we  are  defended  against  spiritual 
wickedness.  "  The  sword  of  the  spirit, 
which  is  the  word  of  God."     Eph.  vi.  17. 

12.  By  it  we  are  kept  from  the  paths  of 
the  destroyer.  "  By  the  word  of  thy  lips  I 
have  kept  me  from  the  paths  of  the  de- 
stroyer," or,  as  Dr.  DeWitt  renders  it,  "  By 
the  word  of  thy  lips,  I  have  shunned  the 
paths  of  oppressors."     Ps.  svii.  4, 

12.  By  it  our  path  through  life  is  lighted 
up.  "  Thy  word  is  a  lamp  unto  my  feet 
and  a  light  unto  my  path."     Ps.   cxix.   105. 

13.  By  it  God  accomplishes  His  will.  "  So 
shall  my  word  be  that  goeth  forth  out  of  my 
mouth;  it  shall  not  return  unto  me  void; 
but  it  shall  accomplish  that  which  I  please, 
and  it  shall  prosper  in  the  thing  whereto  I 
sent  it."     Isa.  Iv.  11. 

14  By  it  we  are  made  to  rejoice.  "  Thy 
words  were  found,  and  I  did  eat  them;  and 


CHAFF  AND  WHEAT.  35 


thy  word  was  unto  me  the  joy  and  rejoicing 
of  my  heart."     Jer.  xv.  16. 

15.  By  it  we  are  warned.  "  Moreover, 
by  them  is  thy  servant  warned ;  and  in  keep- 
ing of  them  is  great  reward."     Ps.  xix.  11. 

16.  By  it  obstacles  are  removed  and 
scattered.  "Is  not  my  word  like  as  a  fire? 
saith  the  Lord;  and  like  a  hammer  that 
breaketh  the  rock  in  pieces  ?  "  Jer.  xxiii.  29. 

17.  By  it  the  seed  is  scattered  that  must 
result  in  a  harvest  of  Aveal  or  woe.  "  The 
seed  is  the  word  of  God."     Lu.  viii.  11. 

18.  By  it  the  secrets  of  all  hearts  are 
revealed.  "The  word  of  God  is  quick  and 
powerful,  and  sharper  than  any  two  edged 
sword,  piercing  even  to  the  dividing  asunder 
of  soul  and  spirit,  and  of  the  joints  and 
marrow,  and  is  a  discerner  of  the  thoughts 
and  intents  of  the  heart."     Heb.  iv.  14. 

19.  By  it  every  blessing  that  comes  from 
the  hand  of  our  Father  is  made  sacred; 
"  for  it  is  sanctified  by  the  word  of  God  and 
prayer."  I  Tim.  iv.  5. 


36  GilAFF  AND    WHEAT 

20.  By  it  an  all-sufficient  and  only  rule  of 
faith  and  practice  is  provided.  "  If  they 
hear  not  Moses  and  the  prophets,  neither 
will  they  be  persuaded,  though  one  rose 
from  the  dead."     Lu.  xvi.  31. 

21.  By  it  unbelievers  are  to  be  judged. 
"He  that  rejecteth  me,  and  receiveth  not 
my  sayings,  hath  one  that  judgeth  him; 
the  word  that  I  have  spoken,  the  same 
shall  judge  him  in  the  last  day."  Jno.  xii. 
48. 

Such  is  a  mere  glance  at  some  of  the 
things  the  word  of  God  is  said  to  do;  and 
when  we  consider  our  relations  to  it,  and 
our  dependence  upon  it  at  every  step  through 
life  and  into  eternity,  it  is  marvelous  that 
men,  professing  to  be  its  friends,  can  rise 
up  before  the  church  and  the  world,  and 
propose  to  catalogue  its  errors.  But  the 
surprise  is  increased,  and  our  conviction  of 
its  inerrant  inspiration  is  deepened,  when 
we  reflect  upon  its  names. 

1.   It  is  often   called  the  word    of  God, 


CHAFF  AND   WHEAT.  37 

because  God  is  its  author.   "  They  preached 
the  word  of  God."  Acts  xiii.  5 

2.  It  is  called  the  word  of  the  Lord, 
because  Jehovah  Jesus  is  its  subject. 
"  When  the  Gentiles  heard  this,  they  were 
glad,  and  glorified  the  word  of  the  Lord." 
Acts  xiii.  48. 

3.  It  is  called  the  word  of  Christ,  because 
it  sets  forth  the  Anointed  One  in  His  person 
and  offices.  "Let  the  word  of  Christ  dwell 
in  you  richly  in  all  wisdom."  Col.  iii. 
16. 

4.  It  is  called  the  oracles  of  God,  because 
it  is  the  word  which  God  spoke.  "  Unto 
them  were  committed  the  oracles  of  God." 
Rom.  iii.  2. 

5.  It  is  called  the  word  of  faith,  because 
it  is  to  be  believed.  "  The  word  is  nigh 
thee,  even  in  thy  mouth,  and  in  thine  heart 
that  is,  the  word  of  faith,  which  we  preach." 
Rom.  X.  8. 

6.  It  is  called  the  word  of  truth,  because 
it  is  truth  without  admixture  of  error.     "  In 


38  CHAFF  AND   WHEAT. 

whom  ye  also  trusted,  after  that  ye  heard 
the  word  of  truth."  Eph.  i.  13. 

7.  It  is  called  the  word  of  life,  because  it 
imparts  life  to  the  believer.  "Holding 
forth  the  word  of  life."  Phil.  ii.   16. 

8.  It  is  called  the  faithful  word,  because 
it  is  credible  and  unchangeable.  "Holding 
fast  the  faithful  word."  Tit.  i.  9. 

9.  It  is  called  the  word  of  grace,  because 
it  makes  known  God's  unmerited  kindness 
to  the  lost.  "  Long  time  therefore  abode 
they  speaking  boldly  in  the  Lord,  which 
gave  testimony  unto  the  word  of  His  grace." 
Acts  xiv.  3 

10.  It  is  called  the  word  of  reconciliation, 
because  it  tells  of  a  God  reconciled  and 
reconciling  the  world  unto  Himself  ;  "  and 
hath  committed  unto  us  the  word  of  recon- 
ciliation." II  Cor.  V.  19. 

11.  It  is  called  the  word  of  salvation, 
because  it  shows  the  way  and  the  only  way 
by  which  men  are  saved.  "  To  you  is  the 
word  of  this  salvation  sent."  Acts  xiii.  26. 


CHAFF  AND  WHEAT.  39 

12.  It  is  called  the  word  of  righteous- 
ness, because  therein  is  the  righteousness 
of  God  revealed  from  faith  to  faith.  "Every 
one  that  useth  milk  is  unskillful  in  the 
word  of  righteousness."  Heb.  v.  13. 

13.  It  is  called  the  word  to  be  preached, 
because  nothing  apart  fi'om  it,  nothing  be- 
yond it,  nothing  short  of  it  is  to  be  pro- 
claimed. "I  charge  thee  in  the  sight 
of  God,  and  of  Christ  Jesus,  who  shall 
judge  the  quick  and  the  dead,  and  by  His 
appearing  and  kingdom;  preach  the  word." 
II  Tim.  iv.  1,  2. 

14.  It  is  called  the  word  of  prophecy, 
because  it  alone  shines  through  the  gloom 
and  reveals  what  lies  in  the  future.  "We 
have  the  word  of  prophecy  more  sure; 
whereunto  ye  do  well  that  ye  take  heed, 
as  unto  a  lamp  shining  in  a  dark  place,  un- 
til the  day  dawn,  and  the  day-star  arise,  in 
your  hearts."  II  Pet.  i.  19.  No  wonder  the 
apostle  writes,  "For  this  cause  also  thank 
we  God  without  ceasing,  because  when  ye 


40  CHAFF  AND   WHEAT. 

received  the  word  of  God  which  ye  heard  of 
us,  ye  received  it  not  as  tlie  word  of  man, 
but  as  it  is  in  truth,  the  word  of  God,  which 
effectually  worketh  also  in  you  that  believe." 
I  Thess.  i.  13. 

Can  it  be  that  such  a  word  is  the  word  of 
men,  and  a  partaker  of  their  ignorance  and 
errors?  It  is  as  far  above  them,  both 
in  thought  and  expression,  as  the  heavens 
are  higher  than  the  earth.  For  eisfhteen 
hundred  years  it  has  been  read,  and  studied, 
and  prayed  over,  and  wept  over,  and  thou- 
sands and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  vol- 
umes have  been  constructed  out  of  it,  and 
to-day  it  remains  as  fresh,  and  unex- 
hausted, and  inexhaustible  as  ever.  Unlike 
any  book  in  the  world,  the  more  it  is 
searched  the  more  profound  becomes  its 
meaning,  and  there  is  literally  no  end  of  its 
new  disclosures  of  truth  to  those  who  des- 
cend beneath  its  surface  into  the  depths 
of  the  riches  both  of  its  wisdom  and  knowl- 
edge.    However  much  any  one  of  us  may 


CHAFF  AND   WHEAT.  41 

know  of  its  most  familiar  passage,  there  is 
more  for  us  to  learn  from  tliat  one  passage 
than  has  been  discovered  thus  far  by  all  the 
scholars. 

What  Prof.  Drummond  says  of  a  law  of 
nature  is  not  true  of  that,  but  it  is  certainly 
true  of  the  Bible.  "  There  is  a  sense  of 
solidity  about  a  Law  of  Nature  which 
belongs  to  nothing  else  in  the  world.  Here, 
at  last,  amid  all  that  is  shifting,  is  one 
thing  sure;  one  thing  outside  ourselves, 
unbiased,  unprejudiced,  uninfluenced  by 
like  or  dislike,  by  doubt  or  fear;  one  thing 
that  holds  on  its  way  to  me  eternally, 
incorruptible  and  undefiled."  If  the  Pro- 
fessor had  substituted  for  "a  law  of  nature" 
"the  word  of  God,"  he  would  have  been 
entirely  correct;  especially  as  he  soon  after 
says,  "  What  these  laws  are  in  themselves 
is  not  agreed.  That  they  have  any  absolute 
existence  even  is  far  from  certain."  Here 
then  by  his  own  confession  all  is  shifting 
and  uncertain,  but  the  believer  can  joyfully 


42  CHAFF  AND   WHEAT. 

exclaim  witli  the  Psalmist,  "Forever,  O 
Lord,  thy  word  is  settled  in  heaven."  Ps. 
cxix.  89. 

You  cannot  improve  a  single  verse  of 
Scripture  by  clothing  it  in  language  of  your 
own.  Every  word  is  carefully  weighed, 
and  is  precisely  the  word  that  ought  to  be 
employed.  There  is  no  mistake,  no  care- 
lessness, no  lapse  of  memory  in  the  use  even 
of  the  least  particle,  although  consisting  of 
only  two  letters;  and  the  slightest  change 
would  often  destroy  the  sense  and  pervert 
the  meaning,  Clement,  the  apostle  Paul's 
fellow-laborer,  and  several  of  the  so-called 
*'  Fathers,"  blundered  fearfully  when  they 
illustrated  the  resurrection  of  the  body  by 
the  fable  of  the  phcenix  rising  out  of  its 
own  ashes;  but  the  writers  of  the  Bible 
committed  no  such  blunder,  nor  can  higher 
criticism  lay  its  finger  upon  the  slightest 
discrepancy  between  any  statement  of  these 
writers,  and  any  ascertained  and  accepted 
fact  in  history,  geography  or  science.     All 


CHAFF  AND   WHEAT.  43 

is  divinely  accurate,  divinely  inerrant,  and 
divinely  perfect. 

Thomas  Campbell,  the  poet,  in  his  beauti- 
ful story  of  Gertrude  of  Wyoming,  lays  the 
scene  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
yet  in  ignorance  of  the  climate  and  latitude 
he  writes,  "  how  might  you  the  flamingo 
see,"  and  "  the  crocodile,  the  condor  of 
the  rock,"  and  "  buffalo  remote  low'd  far 
from  home,"  and  "  hills  with  high  magnolia 
overgrown."  Why  is  there  no  anachronism 
like  this  in  the  Bible  ?  Similar  slips  are  found 
in  the  writings  of  the  world's  greatest 
authors ;  but  why  are  they  not  found  in  the 
Scriptures?  If  it  is  said  that  it  was  neces- 
sary to  preserve  prophets  and  apostles  from 
such  stupendous  mistakes,  in  order  to  render 
the  revelation  of  God's  truth  credible,  why 
could  not  the  same  power  preserve  them 
from  small  mistakes,  and  why  do  not  small 
mistakes  vitiate  its  credibility  ? 

Or,  if  Prof.  Briggs  can  "  make  a  catalogue 
of  errors  in  the  Bible,"  or  Prof.  Harper  has 


44  CHAFF  AND   WHEAT. 

discovered  "  the  existence  of  historical  and 
scientific  errors  in  the  Bible,"  let  them  point 
them  out,  instead  of  sending  forth  their  un- 
supported and  untrue  assertions.  If  they  can- 
not make  good  their  charge,  as  they  cannot, 
then  let  them  leave  the  humble  Christian  in 
quiet  possession  of  the  only  Book  that  con- 
vinces him  of  sin,  that  tells  him  of  salvation 
through  the  blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
that  gives  him  victory  over  evil,  that  guides 
him  in  perplexity,  that  comforts  him  in  sor- 
row, that  cheers  him  on  a  dying  bed,  that 
dismisses  his  spirit  into  eternity  in  hope  of 
a  blessed  immortality,  that  promises  him  a 
glorious  resurrection. 

It  is  sad  enough  to  know  that  these  pro- 
fessors seem  to  be  at  present  sailing  before 
prosperous  gales.  The  secular  press,  and  a 
vast  proportion  of  the  church  and  her  min- 
istry, laud  them  to  the  skies,  or  preserve  a 
discreet  silence  with  regard  to  their  mon- 
strous heresies.  They  are  following  in  the 
wake    of    the    German    critics,    who    have 


CHAFF  AND  WHEAT.  45 

dreamed  that  Moses  did  not  write  the  Penta- 
teuch; that  David  did  not  write  even  one  of 
the  Psalms,  for  they  were  all  composed  five 
hundred  years  after  his  death ;  that  Solomon 
did  not  write  Ecclesiastes ;  that  Isaiah  did 
not  write  more  than  half  the  book  that  goes 
by  his  name;  that  Zachariah  did  not  write 
his  prophecy;  that  Daniel  was  not  written 
until  the  times  of  the  Maccabees ;  that  the 
Gospel  of  John  was  not  written  by  John, 
and  the  Second  Epistle  of  Peter  is  to  be 
rejected.  Well  might  the  question  be  asked 
of  our  dishonored  Lord,  "  What  are  these 
wounds  in  thine  hands?"  and  well  might 
He  reply,  "  Those  with  which  I  was  wounded 
in  the  house  of  my  friends."  Zech.  xiii.  6. 
The  wave  of  German  skepticism  that  is 
flowing  over  our  land  and  invading  our  col- 
leges and  theological  seminaries,  is  one  of 
the  darkest  signs  of  the  times,  and  bodes 
terrible  disaster  for  ourselves  and  our 
children.  "  Shall  I  not  visit  for  these 
things?"   saith  the  Lord;    "shall  not  my 


46  GEAFF  AND   WHEAT. 

soul  be  avenged  on  such  a  nation  as  this? 
A  wonderful  and  horrible  thing  is  committed 
in  the  land ;  the  prophets  prophesy  falsely ; 
and  the  priests  bear  rule  by  their  means; 
and  my  people  love  to  have  it  so ;  and  what 
will  ye  do  in  the  end  thereof?"  Jer.  v.  29, 
31.  It  is  now  as  of  old,  when  God  com- 
plained, "  My  people  would  not  hearken  to 
my  voice,  and  Israel  would  none  of  me.  So, 
I  gave  them  up  to  the  hardness  of  their 
own  hearts  [or  imagination] ;  and  they 
walked  in  their  own  counsels.  Oh,  that 
my  people  had  hearkened  unto  me,  and 
Israel  had  walked  in  my  ways!  *  *  * 
He  should  have  fed  them  also  with  the 
finest  of  the  wheat,  and  with  honey  out  of 
the  rock  should  I  have  satisfied  thee." 
Ps.  Ixxxi.  11,  16. 


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